Thursday 9 June, 1994:

It was just before nine o'clock, and Lena was beginning her Prefect patrol on the ground-floor. As she passed by the large window in the Clock Tower Entrance, her eyes lingered on the sky outside. It was still reasonably light, and the full moon that would rise tonight was yet to appear. As she continued on her way towards the Entrance Hall, Lena's mind drifted to Remus, who would have locked himself in his office by now.

He still wouldn't tell her what was bothering him so much about the 'rat' comment, so Lena had resolved to wait until her NEWTs were over to broach the topic again. He had four Year Levels worth of Hogwarts exams to conduct and mark until then – plus OWLs – anyway, so it really wasn't the time for either of them to indulge in distractions. Not that Lena was really spending that much time on study for her exams – she was too busy helping everyone else with theirs.

Finishing her checks in the Entrance Hall, she was about to head upstairs to the first-floor when, to her shock, Harry and Hermione came running down the steps, both in dishevelled and clearly distressed states.

"What the hell's happened to–" Lena began, but was cut off by Hermione.

"There's no time to explain everything," she rushed. "Look, in about a minute, Dumbledore, the Minister for Magic, and two members of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures are going to come down here. You need to delay them from leaving the castle for a few minutes."

Lena stared at her. "What? Why?"

"Because Dumbledore wants you to."

Feeling quite lost, Lena started to say, "But if he wants to be delayed, why–" It hit her. "Are you two time travelling?"

There was a beat, then Harry and Hermione said, "Yes," in unison.

Lena immediately wanted to know what had happened – or rather, what was going to happen – for Hermione to break her promise to McGonagall and bring Harry back in time with her, but she had also read enough time travel theory to know that was absolutely what she wasn't allowed to know.

"All right," she told them, "I'll see what I can do. And where are you two going?"

"Down to Hagrid's," replied Harry.

"But that's all we can say," said Hermione, shooting him a warning look.

'Hagrid's Hippogriff,' realised Lena. 'It must have lost its appeal, and is supposed to be executed.' Was this some sort of rescue mission then?

There came a sound of voices from the top of the stairs.

"Go," hissed Lena, shooing them towards the door, "and good luck."

Harry and Hermione exited the Hall just in time, as Dumbledore and his three companions came into view.

"Professor Dumbledore," said Lena immediately, plastering a smile on her face, "what brings you down here at this–" she gave him a pointed look, "–time of night?"

There was a flicker of recognition in Dumbledore's eyes, before he replied, "Only a most unhappy situation, I'm afraid, Miss Lestrange – a scheduled loss of life."

"Lestrange?" Cornelius Fudge had recoiled upon her hearing her name. Lena turned her gaze to him with mild curiosity. She had never seen the Minister for Magic in real life before. He was even less impressive than his pictures in the newspapers, and was currently looking at her with thinly-veiled suspicion.

"Ah, yes," said Dumbledore, pretending not to notice the hostility in Fudge's manner. "Cornelius, may I introduce our Head Girl, Miss Lena Lestrange?"

Lena walked up to them, and extended a hand to Fudge, still smiling. "Delighted to meet you, Minister."

Fudge gingerly accepted her hand. "Yes, yes, likewise, I'm sure," was his muttered response, not looking up – as she was at least half a head taller than him – to meet her eye.

Dumbledore gestured to the decrepit old man on Fudge's other side. "This is Mr Quimbly, of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures–"

He and Lena exchanged polite nods.

"–And this here is–"

"Walden Macnair," interrupted Lena. "Yes, we have met – a very long time ago, of course."

The former Death Eater eyed her distrustfully, but Lena unwaveringly met his gaze.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds before Dumbledore broke it. "And how goes tonight's patrol, Miss Lestrange?"

"Oh, well, sir," replied Lena, turning back to him. "Very well indeed. There would, after all," she coughed slightly, "be very little reason for students to be breaking curfew –it being exam period and all."

Dumbledore imperceptibly raised an eyebrow. "Of course, all the pupils are undoubtedly hard at work studying, or preparing for an early night."

Lena had spent enough time with Dumbledore this year to read the look on his face – the look that said, 'Harry's up to something again, isn't he?'

She gave him a small nod. "Yes, of course."

"Yes, well, we are on something of a schedule, Dumbledore," Fudge cut in. "So we should really be heading down to Hagrid's–"

Knowing she had to delay them longer than this, Lena blurted out the first thing that came into her head: "This is regarding the Hippogriff that injured my cousin, isn't it?"

Fudge looked at her, surprised. Apparently, Lucius Malfoy's many generous donations to the Ministry over the previous twelve years had made the Minister forget his familial connections to some of Azkaban's most famous permanent residents.

"My Uncle Lucius," continued Lena, "has been, I imagine, a key figure in this case against the creature."

Fudge puffed his chest out slightly. "Mr Malfoy," he said, "has acted as I'm sure any parent concerned for their child's safety would."

Lena couldn't resist smirking. "And the Ministry has responded to his complaints as I'm sure any political group would respond to one of their principal donor's demands. The customer is always right, after all."

While Dumbledore's lips twitched in amusement, Fudge's eyes flashed in anger. "I do not like your implication, Miss Lestrange," he said imperiously.

But Lena had decided that if she was going to dip her toes in, she might as well go for a swim while she was at it. "But surely you must find it a little bit embarrassing to be so blatantly in the pocket of all these families with so many..." She chuckled. "Well, criminal connections."

As Fudge began to splutter incoherently, Dumbledore held up a hand and firmly said, "I think that's enough, Miss Lestrange. Now, I am sure your patrol requires you to cover much ground over a comparatively brief amount of time, so–"

"How dare you?" interrupted Fudge, ignoring Dumbledore as he finally regained his voice. "You would accuse me of corruption? Someone like you?"

"Cornelius," said Dumbledore sharply.

"No, Albus," snapped Fudge. He pointed at Lena. "You don't think the stories about her haven't made it to the Ministry? Rumours of assaulting other students, of Dark Curses, of–"

"No wonder the Ministry is so incompetent," remarked Lena, "if its employees spend most of their time gossiping about schoolchildren, rather than actually doing their jobs."

Fudge's face went even redder. "You–"

"You're quite an angry little man, aren't you?" said Lena neutrally.

"That's enough, Lena," Dumbledore warned her. Mr Quimbly was watching the back-and-forth with an expression that was a mixture of surprise and disapproval, while Macnair's had transformed from apprehension to intrigue.

"Is it?" retorted Lena, folding her arms. "He's just authorised the murder of an innocent creature whose only crime is being in the same vicinity of my moron of a little cousin."She was surprised by the genuine anger in her voice. She had paid little attention to the case of the Hippogriff but she knew enough to be certain he didn't deserve to be executed. 'Fucking Malfoys,' she thought irritably. But as none of them were there at the moment, Fudge would have to take the brunt of her displeasure. She eyes him icily. "I'd say he had it coming."

"Then perhaps you could voice your frustrations with the Minister's policies in a strongly-worded letter to the Daily Prophet," suggested Dumbledore, and Lena could have sworn there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "But I am afraid that a sentence has been given for Buckbeak, and these gentlemen are bound by law to carry it out."

Lena glanced down at her wristwatch. It had been a few minutes since the time travelling Harry and Hermione had left the castle. She had done what they asked.

She sighed and moved out of the way of the four men."Of course. By no means would I want to delay you from your murder– sorry, execution," she sardonically corrected herself. "Have a lovely evening, gentlemen." She nodded at them, taking a moment to exchange a look with Dumbledore that said they would be discussing the time travel business later, and departed from the Entrance Hall.

Snape still hadn't brought up the Wolfsbane.

Remus paced around his office agitatedly. Nightfall was little more than an hour away, and his impending transformation was heightening the stress he already felt over everything else – in particular, the issue of the rat.

It had been a constant plague on his mind over the past two weeks. Was it possible that it had been Peter, not Sirius, who had betrayed them? Had they swapped Secret Keepers without telling him? Had it actually been Sirius who had gone after Peter, rather than the other way round? But why did he kill all those innocent Muggles? Had he simply been mad with grief over James and Lily's deaths, and not been in control of his actions?

Or was Remus just unnecessarily obsessing over a single word? Was he truly so desperate to believe Sirius' innocence that he would so willingly believe another friend had committed the same treachery – a friend who was no longer around to defend himself? He almost wished Lena had never said anything.

Lena. Despite his present anxiety, a small smile played on Remus' lips as he thought of her. He hadn't thought it possible, but ever since their duel, his attraction to her had grown even more – and this time, it wasn't because of something messed up.

Graceful was not the first word that would come to mind if Remus was asked to describe Lena, but there had been something so inhumanly perfect about the way she had moved during their duel. She had almost been dancing rather than fighting, but that had done nothing to lessen how threatening she'd been too. The ingenuity of the way she had finally defeated him was also quite entrancing – a spectacular distraction in order to simply disarm.

A longing sigh escaped him, and he instantly felt embarrassed. 'It's pathetic,' he told himself. 'A man your age pining after a girl only just about to graduate from school – not to mention one who hasn't shown the slightest indication she feels the same way.'

Well, there had been moments over the past couple of weeks where he'd thought that Lena's eyes had lingered on him in a way that seemed less platonic than usual.

'Now you're just being delusional,' a cynical internal voice told him. 'You're in so deep that you're inventing signals that she's interested.'

Remus leant against his desk and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples in frustration. He had spent his whole life managing to avoid falling in love, and the one time he slipped up, it had to be with the most impossible woman he'd ever met.

Opening his eyes, he looked at the clock on the wall and frowned. What was taking Snape so long with the Wolfsbane?

He walked around to the other side of his desk and slumped into his chair. At least he'd managed to get most of the younger year levels' exams out of the way before the full moon, and thankfully there would be none tomorrow, so he would have the day to recover.

Thinking about the Third Years' exams that morning, he smiled proudly as he remembered how well they'd all done – especially Harry, the only one to receive full marks.

Remus' eyes widened. Harry – he'd nearly forgotten. He hastily pulled out the Marauder's Map from his desk drawer. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he muttered, tapping it with his wand. At once, the Map began to form.

The Hippogriff that had injured the young Malfoy at the beginning of the year was due to be executed that night – right now, in fact, Remus realised as he glanced back up at the clock. And although Harry no longer had the Map, he most likely had his father's invisibility cloak. And he knew that Harry would want to visit Hagrid before the execution happened. As the Map became fully visible, Remus searched for Harry's name somewhere around Hagrid's hut.

It was Hermione Granger's he found first. She had just left the hut. Next to her, Remus found Harry's name, and next to him, Ron Weasley. And also with him–

Remus felt as though someone had punched him in the chest, and he could no longer breathe. White noise filled his ears. Although he couldn't see his face, he knew it had gone pale.

The name Peter Pettigrew was accompanying Harry and his friends up to the castle.

There was no way it could possibly be true. But the Map never lied.

Unable to move, Remus continued staring at the name of his supposedly long-deceased friend. Yes, he'd recently started to have doubts about who had really betrayed the Potters, but he'd never once imagined that Peter could still be alive.

But the Map had not surprised Remus enough that night, it seemed. For another name was fast approaching Harry, Peter and the others.

Sirius Black.

Remus watched, his heart pounding rapidly, as Sirius collided with them and moments later dragged Ron and Pettigrew to the Whomping Willow. They disappeared under it, and their names vanished from the Map.

Remus didn't think. He just grabbed his wand and sprinted out of his office.

Her patrol had ended, but Lena was still lurking around the ground-floor, unwilling to return to the Slytherin Dungeon yet. She hadn't seen Dumbledore's return to the castle, and was unsure of whether Fudge, Macnair and the other committee member were still with him – otherwise, she'd go speak to him. Nor had she seen anything of Harry and Hermione, which she found worrying.

She knew she could wander the halls of Hogwarts at night and avoid detection, but she also knew she had housemates who were probably waiting in the common room for her return, hopeful she might be able to help them with study.

Sighing, she decided she could probably wait until tomorrow morning to find out just what the hell was going on. Chances were that the house-elves would know about it before dawn.

She was just about to descend the staircase to the dungeons when she sensed that somebody was coming down the corridor. Not a human someone, however.

"I swear, Peeves," she said tiredly, drawing her wand as she turned to face the poltergeist, "I am so not in the mood."

Back in her First Year, when Lena discovered that Hogwarts had a resident poltergeist, she had looked into potential ways to deter Peeves from bothering her. One of the first useful spells she had found was a curse that could actually cause a Poltergeist severe pain. Not being particularly concerned about hurting anyone back then, young Lena had used it on Peeves the first time he decided to taunt her about her parents. He had pretty much left her alone ever since.

Peeves came to a halt, holding his hands up in a surrender. "I wasn't going to do anything!" he whined.

Lena looked up at the floating creature warily. "Really? So what's that you've got in your pocket?" She pointed to a bulge in his right pants pocket. "Accio."

As something zoomed out of the pocket, Peeves tried to snatch it but was too slow. The object flew straight into Lena's left hand. It was a small bottle of something.

Lena read the label, and glanced back up at Peeves with a raised eyebrow. "So you usually just carry glue around with you for what, emergency parchment repairs?"

Peeves shrugged. "I said wasn't going to do, not–"

"Not haven't done," finished Lena with a sigh. "So what have you done, Peeves?"

The Poltergeist eyed Lena's wand, then her irritated expression. He hesitated, before admitting, "Put glue on the seat of Snape's office chair."

Lena tried, but she couldn't stop an amused snort from escaping her. "I imagine he had a great sense of humour about it," she said drily.

Once again, Peeves shrugged. "Wouldn't know. He hasn't returned to his office yet. I don't think he's even back in the castle."

Lena's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, 'back in the castle'?"

Peeves did a little loop in the air. "He left in a hurry about an hour ago." He smirked. "But not in as much of a hurry as Professor Loopy was."

"Lupin?" Lena's heart skipped a beat. "You saw Lupin leave the castle?"

"Yep, about an hour ago. Running, he was. Looked like he'd had quite the fright. Then five minutes later, Big-Nose went prowling out too. So I thought to myself, 'Well, Peevsie, it's your lucky night–"

"But Lupin returned, right?" interrupted Lena, tensing. It was a full moon, Remus couldn't be out in the grounds. Especially if Harry and Hermione were still out there.

"Not that I've seen," replied Peeves carelessly. "So, can I have my glue–"

Lena dropped the glue, turned around and sprinted off in the direction of the Entrance Hall, her mind focused only on finding Remus, and more importantly, finding out if he'd taken the Wolfsbane before going out.

Out of the castle and across the grounds, Lena ran faster than she ever had before. Her eyes kept flicking up to the sky, watching for the appearance of the full moon. Would she find Remus before he transformed? 'He had to take his potion before coming out,' she tried to convince herself. 'He's not an idiot. Surely the worst I'll find is a wolf under the influence of Wolfsbane, and somehow, I'll be able to get him back to his office without being seen.'

Her gaze was drawn to the Whomping Willow. Somehow, there appeared to be people emerging from beneath it. On any other occasion, her curiosity would have been piqued, but all she wanted to know now was if Remus was one of them. She altered her course, heading straight for the tree.

Lena saw that Harry and Hermione were among the number, as was Snape, who seemed to be – floating? She shook her head slightly. None of this was making sense.

Three figures appeared to be tied together. Lena squinted. One of them was Remus. She didn't waste a moment. "REMUS!" she screamed out, her voice cracking from exertion. His attention snapped to her, and as she approached, she could see his expression was both surprised and relieved.

"Lena," he called out. "It wasn't Sirius," he indicated to a man standing next to Harry, "it was–"

But the presence of convicted serial killer Sirius Black was not a priority for Lena. "I don't care," she cut him off, coming to a stop in front of him. "Remus, did you take your Wolfsbane?"

Remus' eyes widened. "My–"

"Your Wolfsbane!" shouted Lena, panic beginning to overtake her. "Please tell me–"

At that moment, a cloud shifted and the group were bathed in moonlight. Instantly, Remus went rigid.

"No, no," whimpered Lena, tearing at her hair. "You idiot, what have you done?"

"Run," said a voice hoarsely – Lena thought it was Sirius. "Run! All of you, now!"

But Remus was chained to two other people: Ron, and a little man covered in filth who Lena didn't know. She pointed her wand at the chains. "Diffindo!"

The chains snapped, and she grabbed Ron and the other man and pulled them away from Remus, who had dropped to a crouch, his limbs warping as he emitted sounds of awful pain.

Lena's chest began to hurt, and for a moment she wildly thought that the Nekrosía inside her had started to act up again. But it wasn't that, she realised. It was seeing Remus suffering like this that was causing a pain in her heart.

There was a terrible snarling noise, and Lena, horrified but unable to look away, watched as Remus' head and body began to lengthen. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. Lena stepped back further, pulling Ron and the small man with her, as the transformation completed.

As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, out of the corner of her eye Lena saw Sirius disappear from Harry's side. In his place was an enormous, bear-like black dog. The thought, 'He's an Animagus' briefly floated across Lena's mind, but there was no time to dwell on it as the dog bounded forwards and tackled the werewolf before it had a chance to launch itself forward into the group of humans watching it. The werewolf threw Sirius off, but the Animagus was persistent, and he threw himself at the werewolf again. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other.

Lena's grip on Ron and the other man slacked, as she watched the battle transfixed – so transfixed that she didn't notice when the little man dived forward to take Remus' wand from where he had dropped it. It was only when there was a bang and Ron fell backwards that Lena realised what was happening. She pointed her wand at the man, but Harry beat her to it.

"Expelliarmus!" he yelled, and Remus's wand flew high into the air and out of sight. "Stay where you are!"

But it was too late, as this man was apparently also an Animagus. Within a second, he had shrunk down, turned into a rat.

'The rat in the Order.' Lena's eyes widened. He was the one who had betrayed Harry's parents, not Sirius–

A loud yelp of pain distracted Lena from the retreating rat. The werewolf was on top of the dog, which was squirming as he tried to free himself. But the werewolf was heavier, and using its weight to its advantage. As Sirius wriggled, his throat became exposed and the werewolf, seeing its opportunity, bent down to deliver the death blow–

"Expulso!"

An explosion hit the ground directly in front of the two canines, the force of which sent the werewolf flying off Sirius. The whimpering dog struggled to his feet, looking around at the rest of the group, confused.

"Sirius, he's gone," Harry told him urgently. "Pettigrew, he transformed." He pointed in the direction that the rat had disappeared.

The werewolf, meanwhile, had landed about twenty feet further back. Slowly, it got to its feet and turned around to face Lena with a murderous look in its eyes, and let out a low, menacing growl.

Lena pointed her wand at it. "I've got this covered," she said evenly. "You go find the rat."

Sirius hesitated, looking between the werewolf and her. After a moment, he made his decision and bounded off after the rat – Pettigrew, Harry had said.

"You two should run as well," Lena told Harry and Hermione.

But Harry shook his head. "I'm not leaving Ron," he said, crouching beside his unconscious friend. They didn't mention Snape, who had collapsed to the ground when Sirius transformed, but was also still unconscious.

Lena nodded slowly, not taking her eyes off the werewolf stalking towards her. "Okay," she replied, and without really thinking about it, slowly began to approach the werewolf.

"What's she doing?" she heard Hermione hiss behind her.

Evidently, the werewolf wondered this too. It paused mid-step, eyeing her suspiciously. She guessed it was used to humans running away from it, not trying to get closer.

Her wand still trained on it, Lena also came to a stop and looked intently at the werewolf. 'At Remus,' she reminded herself, her eyes drawn to the creature's scars – the ones she was so used to seeing on Remus' face and arms. But that was where the resemblance between the werewolf and Remus ended. As she looked into the monster's eyes, she could not see a single trace of humanity in them.

But this creature was Remus. It was his body. His mind was trapped within its skull. This creature was the one she had first met on the Hogwarts Express nine months ago; who had given her a completely different test to everyone else in their first class just to see how clever she really was; who, after finding out something was wrong with her, had not slept until he'd uncovered what ailed her; who had taught her how to cast a Patronus; and who had held her hand for more than an hour while she wept, simply offering her comfort, not judgement, when she'd most needed it. This creature had been heartbroken when it had thought she was dying, and overjoyed when she'd been saved.

And because Lena loved Remus, she loved this creature.

Her breath hitched. There it was. She could no longer run away from that dangerous word, because she knew it was the absolute truth.

'I love Remus.'

Lena took a deep breath as the werewolf resumed its approach, snarling at her. She tightened her grip on her wand.

"Please," she told it softly, "don't make me hurt you."

Once again, the werewolf came to a stop. He stared at the human in front of him, who was firmly pointing something at him. She was not giving off the slightest indication of turning around and running, like her kind was supposed to do, and it was terribly confusing.

The werewolf didn't have much experience with humans – his infuriating two-legged counterpart usually saw to that –but he did have instincts. And instinct told him that humans were prey, and he was supposed to hunt them down.

But he also knew that prey was supposed to run from its predator, to fear it. So why didn't she? Why did she just stand there, looking at him so calmly and so... What was that other emotion? It wasn't fright, or anger, or excitement, or contentment. What else was there to feel?

It was unsettling. He growled at her, willing her to react how she was supposed to, but she just continued to look at him with those eyes. Eyes that were...

He cocked his head slightly. Begging? Was that right? But if she was begging for her life, then why didn't she show fear? He made a frustrated noise. What was wrong with this human?

He looked past her, at the other, smaller humans. They looked afraid, like they were supposed to. They were prey...

But as he started to stalk towards them, his eyes hungrily fixed on them, the tall female human made a loud noise at him, making him instinctively recoil. He turned his gaze back to her. There was something harder in her stare, a look that said... Protect.

Well, that his instincts understood. But then her eyes softened again, and his head began to hurt. He was supposed to attack her. That's what his kind did. But this was not the behaviour of prey. And why were all his hairs standing on end?

His ears flattened against his head. Threat. She wasn't afraid because she didn't view him as her predator – which meant that of the two of them, he wasn't the more dangerous. And for the first time in the werewolf's life, he felt fear.

Looking at the female human, he let out a whimper. Then he turned tail and fled.

Lena's jaw dropped when Remus-the-werewolf turned around and ran away.

Ran away from her.

"Remus," she whispered, lowering her wand as she watched him bound towards the Forbidden Forest. She didn't know what she'd expected to happen, but that wasn't it. She had seen the look in his eyes before he had fled. He'd been terrified of her.

"What did you do to him?"

It was Hermione who had asked.

Lena looked at her. "I didn't do anything," she responded, more defensively than she'd intended. A pang shot through her. She felt awful. She looked back over at the werewolf as he disappeared into the Forest, and fear gripped her. What if he stumbled onto the centaurs? Or worse, the Acromantula colony? From what Harry had described to her last year, there were more than enough of them to take down a werewolf, and they'd probably be delighted by the unexpected fresh meat.

"I have to go after him," she realised aloud.

"What?" That was Harry. "Why?"

"Because he might get hurt in the Forest."

"Are you insane?" exclaimed Harry." Lena, he's a werewolf, he can take care of himself!"

"But what if he can't?" cried Lena, anguished. "I'm sorry," she began to jog in the direction of the Forest, "I have to go."

"But Lena–"

"Just stay here," she called, "and wait for Sirius to get back." Then she broke into a sprint for the second time that night.

Reaching the Forest, she muttered, "Lumos," and the end of her wand lit up. Holding it out to illuminate the ground in front of her, she soon found the werewolf's paw prints and hurriedly followed them into the depths. Her worst fears were soon confirmed – he was heading in the direction of the Acromantulas.

"For fuck's sake, Remus," she angrily muttered to herself, "how many more stupid decisions are you going to make tonight?"

After another minute of tracking, a loud growling told Lena that she was closing in on Remus. Climbing over the fallen trunk of a huge tree, she saw him, intently sniffing the ground. When he looked up and saw her, he let out a whine and started backing away, in the direction that led him closer to the Acromantulas.

"Remus, stop," she said to him in a low voice.

But the werewolf turned and started running again.

"Don't go that way!" she cried out, frustrated. "Ugh, I am trying to help, you furry git!"

At that moment, there was a loud rustling from somewhere to her left. A second later, a medium-sized Acromantula burst into view, heading straight for Remus.

"No!" shouted Lena. She aimed her wand at a high, thick branch. "Diffindo."

She had timed it with precision. The branch fell with a crack, and narrowly avoiding Remus, landed with a thud on the Acromantula. She quickly ran up to where it lay, still alive and twitching. Pointing her wand at its head, she didn't hesitate.

"Avada Kedavra."

The green light shot out of her wand, and the monstrous arachnid was killed instantly. But there was no time to celebrate her victory – another two Acromantulas had leapt out from nowhere.

One came straight at her, and Lena reacted automatically with another Killing Curse, successfully hitting it in the face. The other one, which was bigger than either of the ones Lena had killed, had launched itself at the werewolf, who was desperately trying to fend off its pincers.

Lena was unable to get a clear shot at it, and was unwilling to risk attempting it with Remus so close to the line of fire. She had only seconds to come up with a plan before the Acromantula overpowered him.

She glanced back at the fallen tree trunk she had climbed over before. 'Should be big enough,' she thought. 'It's worth a shot, at least.'

Dropping to the ground, she pointed her wand at the large trunk. Shakily, it rose a couple of feet in the air. Then Lena swung her wand at the Acromantula.

The trunk zoomed towards it – barely missing hitting her head in the process – and slammed into the monster. Both trunk and Acromantula crashed into the trees behind it.

The werewolf gingerly picked himself up, as Lena edged closer to the Acromantula. It didn't appear to be moving–

She felt something right behind her, but she was knocked over as she turned around. Her head hit the ground hard, and her wand fell out of her grasp. Her vision blurry, Lena only just managed to grab her new attacker's pincers before they sunk into her. But she was only able to hold the Acromantula back for a couple of seconds, and the pincers drew nearer–

Then the beast reared back its head and screeched, allowing Lena to wriggle out from underneath it. As it turned its attention away from her, Lena saw what had distracted it: the werewolf had sunk his teeth into one of the legs, and managed to break it.

But the Acromantula still had seven, and were using them to bear down on Remus. In the darkness, Lena scrambled to find her wand, but with no luck. About to wandlessly conjure some light, she realised she didn't have time – once again, the werewolf was about to become spider-food. Without thinking, she grabbed one of the Acromantula's back legs and pulled with all her might. The Acromantula, already unbalanced, toppled over, freeing Remus. Enraged, the Acromantula turned its attention back to Lena, throwing itself at her. She made one last desperate grasp for her wand. Her hand closed around a stick, but one larger and thicker than her wand. But Lena gripped it, and thrust it at the Acromantula just as it was about to rip into her.

She hadn't realised how sharp the end of the stick was. It went straight in and through the Acromantula's head, and the beast fell onto its side, seizing up. Lena pushed herself onto her knees, and found herself right next to the head.

Once again, she didn't hesitate. Still holding the stick, she stabbed it down into the head as forcefully as she could. The Acromantula gave one final shudder, then went still.

Lena let go of the stick, breathing heavily. The back of her head still hurt from her fall, and she would have very much liked to take a moment to rest. But more Acromantulas could have been coming at any minute.

She conjured a blue flame in her hand to illuminate the ground. Spotting her wand a few metres away, she retrieved it. Then she looked around for the werewolf.

He was sitting about ten feet away from her, watching her cautiously. Lena recalled how he had attacked the Acromantula when it had just been about to kill her. He had saved her life. But why?

There was no time to think about it. "Come on," she said to him, gesturing for him to follow her back the way they'd came. "We need to go."

The werewolf stood, looking torn between running off again, or following Lena.

She sighed impatiently. "We haven't got time for this," she snapped, glaring at him. "Follow." It was a command, not a request.

She turned away from him and marched off, not looking back to see if he was following. But after a few seconds, she heard the light footfalls of the canine behind her, and smiled to herself.

She took them back towards the clearing where she used to go to watch the Thestrals, wondering what to do next. He didn't seem to want to attack her anymore, but she doubted he felt the same way about other humans. There was no way she could take him through the castle to lock him up in his office. Would it be safe to keep him in the outskirts of the Forest for the night?

Reaching the clearing, she halted. There were eight Thestrals already standing there, watching her curiously. She stretched out her hand, and a couple of them approached her.

Then they scattered as the werewolf bounded into their midst, moving to the edge of the clearing to survey him apprehensively.

"It's fine," Lena tried to reassure them. "He won't hurt you."

One of the Thestrals – Umbrius, Lena recognised him to be – slowly walked towards Remus, who was looking at him curiously. Reaching the werewolf, Umbrius bent down and sniffed him. Remus returned the favour. The other Thestrals, seeing he wasn't a threat, joined their kin back in the centre of the clearing, each taking their turn to inspect this new creature.

Lena let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Slumping against a tree, she slid down to the ground, closing her eyes. 'What a night,' she thought exhaustedly. And she still didn't know half of what had gone on. Where had Pettigrew come from? What was underneath the Whomping Willow? Why had Snape been unconscious? And had that been the time travelling Harry and Hermione she had seen back there, or was that yet to happen? Usually, Lena would have been trying to figure it all out in her head, but at the moment, she was too tired and sore.

The feeling of warm breath on her face made her eyes fly open. The werewolf was standing in front of her. Lena groaned. "What do you want now?"

He sat, tilting his head to the side as if he were studying her. Lena did likewise. She still couldn't see any of Remus, any ounce of humanity in his eyes. But nor did she see the same monstrosity she had seen back at the Whomping Willow. And as much as that relieved her, she also found it unnerving. She had never heard of a werewolf holding back from attacking a human before, never mind trying to save one's life.

'Maybe because no human has tried to save a werewolf's life before,' mused Lena. 'Is it possible they can understand the concept of a life debt?'

Hesitantly, she reached a hand out to the werewolf's muzzle, which he cautiously sniffed. Slowly, she ran her hand up his snout and to just below his ear.

"Remus," murmured Lena, but werewolf made no sign that he recognised the name. She sighed, and withdrew her hand. Closing her eyes again, she leant her head back against the tree trunk, wincing. It still hurt.

There was a rustling noise, then an unexpected weight on her lap. Opening her eyes again, Lena looked down. The werewolf had lain down next to her, and was resting his head in her lap.

Lena raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?" she asked him.

The werewolf glanced up at her, as if he was saying, 'What?'

She shook her head, laughing softly. "So much for being a bloodthirsty monster," she muttered, scratching him behind the ear. The werewolf let out a low, throaty sound that was almost a purr, making Lena chuckle again. "You're just an oversized puppy."

Looking up from him, she saw that the Thestrals were watching the curious pair.

"What?" she asked drily. "Never seen a werewolf snuggling up to a human before?"

The Thestrals stared back at her. 'No, obviously,' they seemed to be saying.

Lena snorted. "Yeah," she said quietly. "It's been a weird night for all of us."